Is battery bank cycling when input from panels is more than output inverter is using?

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CVN-71
CVN-71 Solar Expert Posts: 54 ✭✭
in Solar Beginners Corner #1
Do the batteries go thru a cycle when for example the sun is out and panels are producing 2kw but I'm using 1.3kw  while charging my motorcycle?
As I understand batteries only last so many cycles, so I'd hate to reduce life significantly if I'm using them in this manner every day.  Or, because the input to batteries is larger than the load, it's not wearing them that much?  Thanks.
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  • vtmaps
    vtmaps Solar Expert Posts: 3,741 ✭✭✭✭
    #2
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    I don't know what you have for a system or how it's set up, so I can't answer your question.  I can say most name brand systems can be configured to not cycle your batteries unnecessarily.  Virtually all off grid systems are configured that way, but hybrid systems are very complex and can be configured to do all sorts of things that don't benefit you or your batteries. 

    Are you grid tied?  What do you have for equipment?

    --vtMaps
    4 X 235watt Samsung, Midnite ePanel, Outback VFX3524 FM60 & mate, 4 Interstate L16, trimetric, Honda eu2000i
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  • Dave Angelini
    Dave Angelini Solar Expert Posts: 6,748 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    #3
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    Are you charging on board the Roosevelt in San Diego? :)
    Restate your question with a little more detail. If you are putting  1.3kw into a battery it has been cycled to some degree.
    If your are saying the balance .7kw is going into another battery then it would help if you make it clear.
    In general when a battery is at the correct float voltage it does not harm or cycle the battery.
    "we go where power lines don't" Sierra Nevada mountain area
       htps://offgridsolar1.com/
    E-mail offgridsolar@sti.net

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  • CVN-71
    CVN-71 Solar Expert Posts: 54 ✭✭
    #4
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    Dave Angelini said:
    Are you charging on board the Roosevelt in San Diego? :)
    Restate your question with a little more detail. If you are putting  1.3kw into a battery it has been cycled to some degree.
    If your are saying the balance .7kw is going into another battery then it would help if you make it clear.
    In general when a battery is at the correct float voltage it does not harm or cycle the battery.
    TR should have stayed in Norfolk. Those West Coast sailors won't treat her right. :-)

    Generally my battery bank is fully charged every morning. So question is, if I draw 1.3kw from it and the sun is providing more than that in input at that time, is the bank being cycled like a cycle wears it down?  If not,  how is the voltage transferred from the panels to batteries, then into inverter? The 1/3kw is coming from the batteries, correct? That has to cycle them I would assume.

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  • CVN-71
    CVN-71 Solar Expert Posts: 54 ✭✭
    #5
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    vtmaps said:
    I don't know what you have for a system or how it's set up, so I can't answer your question.  I can say most name brand systems can be configured to not cycle your batteries unnecessarily.  Virtually all off grid systems are configured that way, but hybrid systems are very complex and can be configured to do all sorts of things that don't benefit you or your batteries. 

    Are you grid tied?  What do you have for equipment?

    --vtMaps
    I'm off grid, FM-80 controller and Magnum 4024 inverter.
    vtmaps said:
    I don't know what you have for a system or how it's set up, so I can't answer your question.  I can say most name brand systems can be configured to not cycle your batteries unnecessarily.  Virtually all off grid systems are configured that way, but hybrid systems are very complex and can be configured to do all sorts of things that don't benefit you or your batteries. 

    Are you grid tied?  What do you have for equipment?

    --vtMaps
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  • Dave Angelini
    Dave Angelini Solar Expert Posts: 6,748 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    #6
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    I don't know about that!  Some pretty decent Navy boys and girls down in San Diego! o:) My Dad went out to Iwo Jima from there and my brother went in the Persian gulf a few times on the Nimitz out of San Diego.

    As I said, if you are in float you are not cycling unless you are pulling down the float voltage.  No is the answer.
    You completed one cycle (no matter how deep) that morning. It is not a good design if you are cycling more than once a day which you are not!
    Energy is being transferred by magic!
     No, DC in from your panels supports the inverter AC loads and any loss. As long as you are at float all is well.
    OK, you do need to know that when you are in float you really are charged.
    Easy to do with flooded, not so easy with other chemistry batteries.


    "we go where power lines don't" Sierra Nevada mountain area
       htps://offgridsolar1.com/
    E-mail offgridsolar@sti.net

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